In industrial facilities, such as systems for manufacturing goods, power or for communication, etc., there has long been a demand for a control system that provides the best possible, automatic, intelligent management of the ongoing process in a reliable and inexpensive manner. There has also been a demand for an evolutionary self-improvement of the control system.
Control systems using so-called intelligent components are already known from the related art. For example, International Patent Application No. WO 93/08515 describes a control system for technical processes which works with knowledge-based control rules for selected process states. The control parameters for the other process states are formed in the apparatus using a continuous mathematical function that links knowledge-based control rules and thus creates control rules for all process states--in the manner of a non-linear interpolation. This conventional apparatus is not designed to act automatically in a controlled manner with regard to achieving a better process performance. The human operator's intelligence is still indispensable. This conventional apparatus does not provide for an evolutionary self-development of the intelligent components.
Another expert system is described in the article "The MODI expert system--a contribution toward reliable and cost-effective management of power plants, ABB Technik ABB Technology, 6/7 (1994) pages 38-46. This conventional system monitors the status of power plant processes by comparing characteristic features with a mathematical reference model and, when there are deviations from normal behavior, analyzing the causes. The plant-wide approach of this conventional expert system permits statements regarding the process as a whole, but automatic, self-optimizing process management is not possible with this expert system.
In addition, a computerized control system that uses models to automate the continuous casting of steel and monitors product quality is described in the article "Process optimization for maximum availability in continuous casting" in the journal Metallurgical Plant and Technology International, vol. 5 (1994) pages 52-58. This is accomplished using graphic plots, i.e., via a human-machine interface. This conventional control system likewise does not provide for automatic intelligent process control.
A control system described in European Patent Application No. 0 411 962 is provided specifically for continuous casting of steel and operates similarly. Here again, test runs in the plant provide the basis for the expert knowledge, which is used in the form of limit curves. There is no continuous or stepwise, automatic computerized optimization.
The systems described above, which work with intelligent components, do not achieve the quality of the object of the present invention.